


it's you

by alilacviolin



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Death, Early Mornings, F/M, Fluff, Lazy Mornings, Love, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-08
Updated: 2016-03-08
Packaged: 2018-05-25 11:08:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6192706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alilacviolin/pseuds/alilacviolin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>it only takes the morning light filtering from the blinds for emma to realize that killian is the love of her life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	it's you

**Author's Note:**

> AU where emma waits before going after killian to the underworld.

the light barely filtered from the shutters, but it was just enough to wake emma from her slumber. she was used to sleeping in complete darkness, and even the slightest bit of sun would be too much. 

to her side, she heard a soft snore. a smile playing on her lips, she turned her head slightly to see killian’s sleeping face. his hand was splayed on her stomach, but their tightly knit spoon had broken after they naturally drifted apart. 

killian was her personal radiator. he was warmth in the night, and emma despised sleeping when it was too cold. she turned to her side and put her hand to her face, her elbow digging into the pillows. 

killian’s face was peaceful, his lips slightly parted and softly snoring at an irregular pace. his features were calm, a drastic change from his constant worry lines. emma preferred to see him this way, his skin looking softer and not stressed. the light illuminated his face, highlighting his cheeks. his dark eyelashes fell, just brushing the apples of his cheeks. everything about killian was warm at the moment; he was emma’s very own angel.

she resisted the urge to touch his face – to brush her thumb over his beard and his eyelids, to press kisses on his forehead, his nose, his chest, his neck. they were peaceful, and it was a rarity emma didn’t have the luxury of everyday. 

there was always something to conquer, something to defeat, something to fix. the savior didn’t have the time to fool around, she didn’t have the time to be lazy. emma was constantly moving, constantly waiting for the next moment of danger to strike their godforsaken town. 

when the curse was broken, there was gold’s evil father and regina’s mother to deal with. before they’d even gotten a second to breathe, regina’s deranged sister paid them a visit, followed immediately by the snow witch. and just when emma had naively believed it was all over, they were swarmed with villains. 

nothing was easy for her, life never came with a manual. and yet, emma hadn’t regretted any of her actions. it had all lead her to believe in something again, just when she had lost hope. 

she brushed hair out of killian’s eyes and he sighed, tightening his grip on emma’s bare waist and falling back to a snore. 

emma hadn’t believed in love after neal. she didn’t believe in giving someone such power over her again. some nights, she could still hear him telling her goodbye, she could still feel the weight of his body hanging in her arms as he died. she could hear her cries. 

killian had unlocked something in emma that made her believe in something. killian wasn’t light, he had gone through more than anyone could imagine. he had lost love, like her, and he had felt like an orphan all his life. killian didn’t want to fix her, he simply understood her, and perhaps that was enough for emma. 

they healed each other over time. it was a process that she didn’t understand at first, trying to bury her feelings as she always had. emma didn’t need killian taking advantage of her in the midst of mortal peril – but they’d always been in the midst of potential death. 

her eyes never left his face, still peaceful and still dimly illuminated by the light bleeding in. she was smiling, her hand over his, brushing his skin with her thumb. these mornings, where everything in the world seemed to fade, was what emma had always dreamed of. 

killian didn’t want to change her, he wanted to love her, and it was a completely foreign concept. he understood that she didn’t trust anyone, she couldn’t let anyone in after neal destroyed her heart. and when emma had realized that she could let killian in, someone who was just as damaged and broken as herself, she was in a state of free falling. things were absolutely better with killian because they didn’t pressure each other into anything. 

it wasn’t a pure kind of love. it wasn’t the kind of love her parents had, but she knew that her bond with killian was just as strong. 

emma was still unsure of what love meant. she knew that she would die for those that she loved, that she would rather be hurt than loose someone she cherished. her life would be ruined if henry or her parents or baby neal were taken from her. 

but if killian was taken from her, she knew that it would be a different kind of pain. she felt warm around killian, inexplicably soft and calm in his presence. it would be as if night and darkness had permanently fallen upon the earth, as if the heavens had decided that the sun should be destroyed. life would go on, but her heart would turn to ash and dust. she would not only die for killian, but emma knew that she would walk through hell and high water for him. 

he was here, though, in their home, in their bed, and in her arms. she was in love with him, with the way he snored and laughed and sighed. she was in love with his eyes, his cheeks, his nose, his hands. 

his eyelids fluttered open and he blinked at a grinning emma. “what’re you lookin’ at, love?” his voice was gruff and thick with sleep.

“nothing.”

he rubbed his face with his hands and stretched lightly. “you been awake this whole time?”

emma beamed at him, letting her finger trace the light hairs on his chest. “perhaps.”

“cryptic much?” he grinned at her, leaning in to press a kiss to her cheek. she moved in for his mouth and kissed him – the sweet kind of morning kiss. it amazed her that she would never tire of his lips, that it was the best wake up call she would ever get. 

“i love you.” she whispered, her mouth a mere centimeter away from his. he didn’t need reminding, but she would tell him until her mouth went dry. she loved him, and she wouldn’t hold back from saying it – she had waited far too long.

“and i, you.” he shifted, pulling emma closer to his body and pressing a kiss to her forehead. 

“MOM!” 

“lad’s up rather early.” killian laughed. “might need to send him to Granny’s for breakfast, because i am not ready to get up.”

“MOM!”

“ _MOM_ ”

“ _mom, wake up!_ ” henry shook emma and she jolted awake, sitting up quickly. her body was drenched in sweat and she was wide-eyed, looking around the darkness. her bed was cold and empty, henry staring at her with a worried look.

“mom, are you okay?” he said quietly.

emma hadn’t understood anything. it certainly wasn’t morning and she realized that nothing that she had thought happened was real. killian was not in her bed – he was dead. the thought alone made her feel nauseous and dizzy.

“mom?”

“henry, i-“ she paused, swallowing a lump in her throat. “i’m fine, kiddo. go back to sleep.”

“i wasn’t sleeping. grandma told me to check on you – it’s only 8:00” henry said slowly, confused at his mother’s unstable state. 

“i’m fine. i just need to rest, alright? tell her not to worry. i’m fine.”  
henry nodded slowly, backing out of the room and shutting the door, leaving emma to a deafening silence. she could hear the thundering of her own heart as she slowly lowered herself to a comfortable position.

killian was dead. he was dead, and she wouldn’t ever wake up to his smile or his eyes again. the light would never illuminate his face, and she would never hear the thickness of his voice in the early hours of dawn. 

emma shut her eyes, praying for sleep that wouldn’t come.


End file.
